Ok, Eric caught me. I used the Washington Post-ABC News poll just to poke fun at??Ed in '08 again. With our current situation, someone would have to be off their rocker to list education as their top priority over the gazillion other things that are plaguing this country and the world. HOWEVER, that's not really the point. Ed in '08 has demonstrated a type of hubris that is yet unparalleled in my recent memory. Not only did they think that they could singlehandedly make education into a top priority by throwing money around and producing unsubstantive and not-that-funny TV ads, but they decided that their three education "pillars" (if you can call them that) were their sole intellectual property as if no one else had possibly thought of these three things before. Here they are in all their simplistic glory:
1. creating clear learning standards,
2. improving teaching,
3. and giving adequate time and support for student learning.??
Are you trying to tell me that Ed in '08 is the sole proprietor of the idea of "improving teaching"? Is that a joke?
But back to the Washington Post-ABC News poll. Eric is right that we cannot draw sweeping conclusions or be that surprised by its findings. We can be surprised, and frankly a bit exercised, about Ed in '08's attempt to call their campaign a success in light of these findings--and others--that show education has made absolutely no headway in the national consciousness. The truth is that Romer and company--and Gates and Broad--had to cover themselves because they threw away 24 million buckaroos. And as for Obama mentioning education as his third priority in the last debate, that's no saving grace for Ed in '08. What proof do we have that Ed in '08 had anything at all to do with Obama's priority-setting? None and for Ed in '08 to take credit is the grandest act of hubris of all. Their only saving grace is that they didn't spend the whole $60 million.
